Government Intervention In Gas Prices: Good Or Bad? (Report)

1712 words - 7 pages

Executive SummaryAs is now common knowledge, gasoline costs in recent months have surged beyond anyone's expectations. With this sudden and unfortunate turn of events, many have called for the reintroduction of government controls in the petroleum industry (be it in the forms of taxation, regulations or price controls). There stand a few valid arguments to each side; those in favour stating that fuel prices will drop, demand will increase and the economy will be stabilized; everybody wins. The opposing side argues that government intervention in this sector of the market has never been successful in the past, and that any form of tampering with the laws of supply and demand will result in sheer market chaos, far from the intended result. Both sides will be examined in greater depth throughout the body of this report, wrapped up with a conclusion of the best course of action, based on extensive research including market analysis' and historical relevance.Main PositionGovernment intervention is unnecessary, and in the long term does more harm than good to the market.Historical Disasters as Result of Government InvolvementThe majority of intellectuals today prefer to learn from the mistakes of the past as opposed to making their own mistakes and learning from them. Sometimes one should wonder why the government couldn't live by that notion as well. The NEP (Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, http://www.aims.ca/regulatoryreform.asp), a brainchild of the last Trudeau government, worked diligently towards a more "made-in-Canada" price for petroleum products, a closed (strictly domesticated) energy market, and massive government control within and throughout the industry. The result was nothing short of disaster. Almost instantly, Canada became one of the riskiest markets in the industry, plagued by enormous volatility as result of the federal government almost forcing producers to comply with prices far below normal market levels. Consequently, investment into Canada disappeared, taking numerous Canadian jobs with them. By the time the Mulroney government came into power, energy sectors all over the continent were in the process of deregulation, and as a result there was a gigantic boom in the market. Supply swelled, prices dropped, exploration spread, and the continental pipeline infrastructure was completed. This meant that gas found anywhere in North America could be transported with ease and sold anywhere on the continent, allowing everybody in every sector of the industry to benefit from huge supplies, advancing technology and steadily growing investment (http://collections.ic.gc.ca/abpolitics/events/issues_nep.html). After this entire ordeal, anyone would assume the government should, in the future, stay as far as possible from the running of the oil industry. Returning to the old system of a regulated industry would simply render all the progress we've made in the last 20 years totally obsolete.Intervention: Only a Short-term Solution, Think...

Find Another Essay On Government Intervention in Gas Prices: Good or Bad? (REPORT)

913 words - 4 pages
Today the world revolves around different kinds of technology that are used for many things, some are necessary and some are not. Technology is a big part of our lives, and many would say we couldn’t live without it. Weather people like it or not technology is here, and it’s not going away. But a big question is; Is technology good or bad? Advancements in technology are bad For many reasons. Some are anyone who has a laptop can find someones

1008 words - 5 pages
somehow relates to phobia or anxiety, but these words are really far from the “true purpose” of fear. Although have we ever thought about what good fear does to us instead of just looking at the negative effects that it causes us?
Like the definition of fear, it makes us uncomfortable, it makes us worry about the future punishments that will come; the reason why we see fear as bad thing. It was back to school night in my high school, my parents

1135 words - 5 pages
Good and Bad
The world is full of bad people and good people, but it is hard to categorize people with few details about them. People tend to say “never judge a book by its cover”. But that quote does not apply to everyone, sometimes judging someone based on their apparel is very effective, and in some cases more than enough to know which category they fall into, bad or good. In the novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

1069 words - 4 pages
benefits of decentralization and whether they are good or bad for an organization.DecentralizationI would hate to work for a company where I had no say in anything that happened. I'm not saying that I need to make top management decisions or decide on the organizational operations, I would like to be able to make suggestions and have input on how to improve the company or how to make things run better and more efficient. Decentralization would allow me

1197 words - 5 pages
that he or she is the true victor. The victory was bought using money and so it is actually not worth anything at all.All in all, competition is both good and bad. When competition is managed properly, it is good as it drives people to strive to be better and shows the human spirit, but when competition gets out of hand, in serious cases like war, many lives may be lost. So, competition is only good when it is managed well.There is an alternative

741 words - 3 pages
Globalization. What is it? According to the Merriam - Webster OnlineDictionary, Globalize is "to make worldwide in scope or application." In general,we eat everyday. everybody eats. it's a global thing to all of us. Consumingproducts from vegetables to meats to manmade food products. So biotechnologyhave come to a consideration of food. Is genetic food really the key to make foodsafe and longer lasting? I personally agree with the Biotechnology

790 words - 4 pages
Most of everything we use today involves technology. We have many forms of technology in our lives. Everyday tasks are consumed by technology, but is this good or bad? Technology is used in many good ways, like calling the police or family in case of an emergency or knowing about a terrible storm that will be in the neighborhood. Sometimes, it can be bad too.
Cell phones are used all around the world. People can call and chat with friends and

1248 words - 5 pages
Bill,” and an article published on Policy Mic, a blog site on political issues, called “Immigration Reform 2013: This is the Biggest Immigration Issue You Haven’t Heard About,” by Paul Stern. In his excerpt John, editor for The Daily Kos, explains how the immigration bill is bad because we trick immigrants to work for cheap wages without being guaranteed to renew their work visa, and no chance of becoming a permanent resident or citizen. In Paul

700 words - 3 pages
aristocracy and constitutional government. It uses the good qualities of each and attempts to shirk off the possibility of perversion mentioned by Aristotle. This situation is not only an example of the perverse democracy, but it also shows, by Aristotle's definition, tyranny. Tyranny is, "a kind of monarchy that has in view the interest of the monarch only." Obviously, Mayor Daley is not a monarch, but he is in the most powerful person at

805 words - 3 pages
time. That is students have become lazy and less active due to spending too much time in front of those modern devices, especially computer, and lacking of sports activities. In addition, attaching too long to television or computer can have bad effect on students' health. The most likely problems are to develop are bad eyesight and obesity. Besides that, some sources of information on the internet are unreliable. Students may come across

1318 words - 5 pages
Josh Rucci English 112 Linshi Li Final Draft Technology, Good or Bad? Imagine a world in which everything was run by computers, a society in which everything revolves around computers and makes everything hands free. This may sound like something that you dream about, but technology is reaching new levels daily. To some people this may sound amazing, but it also strikes fear into many people. A hands free society would make life a lot easier

Similar Essays

1058 words - 5 pages
country needed cohesive, top-down parties with clear agendas that can be carried out when in the majority. It also needed a cohesive minority party to criticize the majority party and act as an alternative.” While both the Campus Times and Thomas Mann suggest that polarization is somewhat necessary and is increasing, whether or not the necessity or increase is beneficial to American politics and government is debatable. In this paper, I argue that

1236 words - 5 pages
The matter of whether or not to provide protection to whistle blowers in Canadian Government Organizations has been discussed for many years. However, to date, there has not been a bill passed to give whistle blowers full protection.Whistle blowing is defined as "an act of a man or woman who, believing that the public interest overrides the interest of the organization he serves, blows the whistle that the organization is involved in corrupt

3056 words - 12 pages
Disneyland in Hong Kong- Good or Bad? The aim of this essay is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages in having Disneyland coming into Hong Kong. Disneyland is a famous theme part, with outlets all around the world, including Japan, America and France. And now, Disney decided that the next theme part it is going to locate itself is Hong Kong- is how beneficial will it be to Hong Kong? The diagram on the left shows the proposed location of

1693 words - 7 pages
1. Introduction to taxation
Tax is defined as a compulsory levy payable by an economic unit to the government without any corresponding entitlement to receive a definite and direct quid pro quo from the government. It is levied as a general exaction on one or more criteria upon individuals, groups of individuals, or other legal entities.
Tax is even levied in the market sphere, under the name of corrective tax, to correct the market failure by